Boy Scout ‘perversion files’ expose 20 years of child abuse - Chicago News and Weather | FOX 32 News

Boxes of folders known as the "Boy Scout Perversion Files" released Thursday contain names of 69 Illinois offenders, including 19 in Chicago - many accused of child sexual abuse. The cases date back to 1965 but were made public after a Portland attorney won a battle against the Boy Scouts of America to release the documents.

"The Boy Scouts knew that they had a institution wide problem with child abuse and didn't take steps to deal with that," said Attorney Kelly Clark.

The 14,500 pages detail disturbing allegations like the case of Paul Scott Koefoot of Evanston. In 1982 Koefoot was a scout leader who was accused of an improper act with an 11 year old boy. The child's parents wrote to complain and demanded Koefoot's removal. He was banned but charges were never filed in that case. Years later Koefoot was charged in unrelated cases with sexual assault and sexual assault of a child.

"I hope that they're addressing those issues and that they have some sort of method in place to screen people," said Rich Allen.

"We've got a multi-tiered program that we do today to keep kids safe - it includes background checks for our volunteers when you sign up to be a scout leader," said Charles Dobbins, CEO and Scout Executive of the Chicago Boy Scouts of America.

Dobbins says it also includes training volunteers and participants on how to recognize signs of abuse.

"We teach the kids how to recognize, resist and report child abuse so that the things that a pedophile tries to do in secret, we try to tear the secrecy off and make sure kids understand that it's not good to keep it a secret, you need to tell an adult, you need to report it," said Dobbins.

In a statement, the Boy Scouts of America apologized to victims saying they "regret there have been times when the BSA's best efforts to protect children were insufficient."

The organization says in the more than 30 years since the released files were created, they've implemented mandatory reporting to law enforcement of abuse or suspicion of abuse. The files were created to remove and keep unfit individuals from scouting.